


Always Felt a Fire in Your Eyes

by All_out_of_love_and_pizza



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling, Fluff, Kissing, Lance has a kink for keiths eyes let’s be honest, Lance is pining, M/M, Mid battle confessions, PINING KEITH, idk it’s mainly fluff, injuries, just a bunch of words to describe keiths eyes, pining lance, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_out_of_love_and_pizza/pseuds/All_out_of_love_and_pizza
Summary: Suddenly, it was the same feeling of being pierced through, pinned to the floor. That feeling of this is something big. This is something important.And of course it was Keith, it was always Keith, wasn’t it?Lance didn’t even have to think about it, he was already rushing off, because Keith had a Lance specific gravity, and who was Lance to defy physics?Or, all the different ways that Keith Kogane looked at Lance McClain.





	Always Felt a Fire in Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I’m on tumblr as @awakebyawindow so come yell at me if you want ✨  
> Leave feedback pleeeaaase

In hindsight, Lance isn't sure what exactly started it, this intense need to outdo him, to out-pace him, to stand ahead of him.  
Him being, well, Keith.  
Lance remembers the exact moment when he first laid eyes on Keith Kogane. First day of his first year at the Garrison, and Lance was anxious, was nervous about fitting in and about the work and would he be smart enough for this? As much as his family assured him that he could do anything and didn’t have to worry about it, he couldn't stop the swirl of “this is gonna go badly” brand of dread through his bloodstream.  
So of course, in his typical fashion that the McClain family knew of very well, he was covering this by being ON.  
And if you don't know what Lance being ON looks like, count yourself lucky because it was a mixture of loud and fast and Hi how are you? and I’m Lance McClain, who are you? and Wow, is that a bird??  
So that's what he was doing, sitting at a desk near the front he had grabbed, chatting to a boy whose name he doesn't remember and managing to say about three hundred words a minute but not talking about anything interesting.  
Looking back on it, Lance really wished he had been talking about something interesting, something so goddamn spectacular that when Keith walked through that door he would have been as entranced as Lance immediately was.  
But it didn't go like that. Keith walked through the door and suddenly the boy Lance was talking to was gone because Lance needed to be friends with the small boy standing in the doorway. Because he was small, shorter than Lance and skinny and with his shoulders hunched and so many people would have taken one look at him and thought that he looked shy or tired but not Lance.  
Lance saw what was actually there. The bruises on his knuckles that were otherwise white from how tightly the boy was clenching his fists, the stubborn way his shoulders were lowered, as if daring the whole room to look just a little too closely to just give him an excuse to come at him just once. Lance saw the way his dark eyes flickered up to survey the room in a practiced sweep, saw the gleam of black fire in those eyes as they settled on Lance.  
And the funny thing is, if any of the other children had seen the things Lance did, they reasonably would have decided to stay away from the ‘trouble’.  
But, god, when had Lance ever had a reasonable reaction to anything? He couldn’t remember.  
So of course his first thought was, this is someone to watch, to be near, to help.  
So he decided right there that he would.  
And he held onto that decision even as he stood from his seat and opened his mouth to greet the boy, only to have Keith Kogane roughly brush past him without a word.  
If anything, his resolve only strengthened after that.  
He was gonna be this boy’s goddamn best friend if it ended him.

And well, that wasn't where the rivalry started, but maybe it was the next time they clashed, Lance attempting to reach out and being shoved away again (literally this time, Lance was marveling over the other boys upper body strength for a while). Or the fact that Keith wouldn’t even look at him. Or the next time, when everyone whispered about how the McClain boy had been three points under Keith Kogane and Lance had tried to congratulate him on the winning score and Keith didn’t even respond. Or the next time, when Lance told a group of boys to stop laughing at Keith’s hair and Keith had scowled at him for the effort, still managing to not even look at him.  
Whenever it happened, somehow along the line, it didn’t matter if Lance was his friend, just as long as Keith Kogane noticed him.  
If it killed him, those dark flame eyes were gonna burn at Lance again.

The next time Keith looked at Lance was slightly less dramatic, but no less important to Lance.  
It was a regular day at the Garrison, the only special thing being the simulator tests they were taking that day.  
Keith was going Just before Lance and, of course, he nearly aced it. Lance couldn’t take his eyes off Keith, at how his hair stuck to the sweat on his forehead and the tight, concentrated look on his face and how he seemed to be like the moment before an explosion. The aching silent motionless second of time before the eruption of flame and debris. Keith had a Lance specific gravity, and the weight of it pressed Lance further toward him every day.  
As Keith passed Lance on his way out of the simulation, Lance spoke quietly.  
“Good job, pretty sure I can do better, though.”  
And Keith turned those eyes to Lance and they were filled with scorn but they were still burning and Lance burned with them and he decided right there, that if taunting was what got Keith to look at him, so be it.

And so it began, the endless push of Lance desperately trying to catch up and the pull as Keith only got further ahead of him. Countless hours of striving to get those eyes turned on him and sleepless nights studying to surpass the other boy in any way. And Lance got so caught up in it that somehow he didn't even notice that he was falling in love.  
He didn’t notice how everything in him got so quiet around Keith, or how something in his chest clenched very tightly when Keith’s hair fell in his eyes. He didn’t notice that he didn’t stare at anyone else with such intensity.  
Goddamn him, he didn’t notice that Keith’s very name set him burning.  
Well, that is, he didn’t notice until Keith was gone. Kicked out of the Garrison for some technicality, no one knew how to deal with him except Mr. Shirogane and well, he was gone now.  
And so was Keith. And somehow the whole world felt so very off kilter. Lance felt like in some way he was holding so tightly onto Keith that with him gone, Lance didn’t know what to do with his hands anymore.  
And so of course, because the universe is cruel, that’s exactly when Lance realized that the way he missed his rival wasn’t normal. It was too sharp, too near. It felt like being cold on the surface of the sun, it was just wrong.  
But he dealt with it and he pushed on and things were better for a while.  
Until he was on that roof and looking through binoculars and suddenly he was the same boy he’d been when Keith had first walked through the doorway of that Garrison classroom. Suddenly, it was the same feeling of being pierced through, pinned to the floor. That feeling of this is something big this is something important.  
And of course it was Keith, it was always Keith, wasn’t it?  
Lance didn’t even have to think about it, he was already rushing off, because Keith had a Lance specific gravity, and who was Lance to defy physics?  
So he followed him and made some blustering excuse about being the one who would rescue Shiro and it didn’t even hurt that Keith didn’t remember who he was because he was right there, and his eyes bored into Lance like they always, always did. And they even though they looked a little less wild, they still burned just the same.  
God, Lance missed that. So he didn’t even question it, just followed Keith to a shack and then a cave and then pushed into space and didn’t regret a moment of it because Keith was there.

Lance was hunched over on the floor and he could feel the blood trickling out of the hole in his suit where Sendak had shot him. Even as death looked him in the face, somehow he still would have made the decision that day to follow Keith.  
Because Keith was still there, right there. As he looked worriedly over at Lance and his mouth was moving but Lance couldn’t really hear much. All he could notice was how beautiful Keith looked in the soft purple lighting. He really hadn’t changed much from when he was that hunched defiant boy, Lance thought he was beautiful then, too.  
Lance blinked and suddenly Keith was sat beside him, holding Lance’s aching body in his arms. God, if this wasn’t the way Lance wanted to die.  
“Lance, are you okay?” Keith was saying and the way his lips moved around Lance’s name made his chest do funny things and it was already pretty weird from the bloodloss.  
Keith grabbed his hands and Lance was, god, so gone for this boy.  
“We did it,” He said instead of the thousands of sweet nothings and confessions of love he wanted to say. “We are a good team.”  
Keith smiled at him, eyes burning. This really was how Lance wanted to die.

But when Keith brought it up, calling it, adorably, their ‘bonding moment’, Lance just. Couldn’t. Because that moment was too close to what was deep inside him, and he just couldn’t put it out into the world, not yet. Even if Keith’s eyes burned angrily when he denied it.

And much later, when Shiro is gone and then back and Keith is the black paladin and there’s one too many people aboard this ship, Lance finds himself yet again, always, pulled back to Keith. And as awkward as Keith is, he still sounds so concerned about Lance leaving the team, like that’s something he doesn’t want and Lance is so overwhelmed by how warm and open Keith is. He thanks him and leaves and braces himself against the wall outside, forcing himself to breathe.  
“Leave the math to Pidge.”

Keith is gone. Again. Goddamn it all, why is Lance never enough to keep this boy in one spot? Why is he gone, why does Lance have to go through this again? Now it's worse because, because Lance thought that maybe...they were getting somewhere. Maybe someday...well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Keith is gone. And he doesn’t even call, doesn’t do anything to talk to Lance and Lance hates how alone he feels, how off kilter. Pidge and Hunk don’t need him, Allura has Lotor, Nobody is here for Lance.  
Lance can’t help but feel bitterly towards the other boy, as he lays each night and grips the sheets to stop his hands for looking for Keith.  
Keith has a Lance specific gravity, but he’s nowhere to be found so why is Lance still being drawn?

“He did what?” Lance’s voice is cold like ice and sharp like the crack of a whip as it cleaves through the already broken air.  
Matt looks concerned as he repeats himself. “The shield, i mean, it wasn’t going down and Keith just…”  
Lance doesn’t even stay to hear the ending, he already knows.  
So he stalks off and he walks until he hears the showers running and he goes in and Keith is just sitting there, fully clothed under the spray of the steaming water and still shivering.  
They can talk later, Lance decides as he moves to sit next to the other boy and wraps his arms around him and they sit there, numb, until Keith stops shaking.  
Lance turns the water off, and grabs a towel, gently drying Keith’s hair and his face, then turning as Keith strips his armor and undersuit off, grabbing the random assortment of clothes someone must have forgotten in the bathroom and pulling them on.  
Lance grabs Keith’s hand and tugs him along until they come to Lance’s room, And he sits Keith down on the bed and goes back to the bathroom to change.  
When he gets back Keith is curled on top of the covers, so he pulls them back and gets Keith under them, pulling Keith’s body to nestle against his, wrapping his arms around him again. Keith looks up at him and for once, his eyes aren’t burning, they’re filled with tears.  
“Sorry.” He mumbles.  
“Shhh.” Lance says, pulling him tighter against his side.  
And they stay like that till the morning, neither of them bothering to sleep.

The first time Keith sees Lance’s sword was, well.  
Something changed between them after they cuddled for a whole night, just holding onto each other. But Lance was trying to play it cool, which is why he invited Keith to train with him.  
Keith did the groundwork, slicing the training bots into tiny pieces, with Lance covering him from a distance as they usually worked together.  
Until a bot managed to sneak past Keith’s guard, and just as the long haired boy turned to shout a warning to Lance, Lance switched his bayard to the sword and slashed the bot in half with one heaving motion.  
Keith stopped dead, sword slack in his hand, almost as slack as his jaw as he stared at Lance, eyes burning but, differently. Deeper.  
And then he got shot by the other bots, of course, and they had to stop the training session and sit to put some ointment on the minor burn.  
Lance could feel Keith’s gaze on him as he gently dabbed the ointment on his arm.  
“When--when did the, uh, sword happen?” He asked awkwardly, hissing when Lance’s hand jerked a little.  
“Oh, um, not too long ago. Just happened one day during training.” Lance blushed and ducked his head further. “Allura says it means I have greatness within.”  
Lance didn’t see Keith’s eyes as he murmured. “I’ve always known that.”

“Lance?” Bob asked snidely, and Lance bristled, his feelings even more hurt than they already were. “Why Lance?” Okay seriously what was with this guy?  
Keith’s brows pulled together as he frowned. “Because Lance is the most open, honest,  
empathetic, kind person that I’ve ever met. He’s essential to the team, and he deserves to see his family again. He never gives up on people, and he inspires them to be the best they can be.  
Bob smirked. “Oh? And how do you know this?”  
Keith’s brow cleared and he smiled. “Because he did it for me.”  
And they’re eyes met and this time Lance didn’t feel so much like he was burning, more like he was glowing.

When they get to earth, and Lance’s family is surrounding him and hugging him and everyone is crying and laughing and filling him in on everything he missed, look Uncle Lance I lost a tooth!  
But he pulls away after a moment and races across the pavement to grab Keith, not listening to the other boy’s noise of confusion. He didn’t even realize that he had grabbed Keith’s hand, and he misses the significant glances that his family shares with each other as he stops in front of them and says proudly. “This is Keith.”  
There’s one split second of awkward silence and Lance feels Keith’s grip tightened. But then the McClain’s explode in McClain fashion.  
“Woah! Is that a sword?”  
“Wait your name is Keith? Why?”  
“Why are you holding Lance’s--”  
Lance’s mother steps forward, wrapping Keith is a huge hug. “Hello, Keith.” She says warmly, and that’s it.  
Keith looks back at Lance over Lance’s mother’s shoulder. His eyes are so bright.

They’re in the lions, and Lance doesn’t even know how it happens but suddenly Keith is surrounded, and being pelted and pelted and his lion is being tossed around like a toy between a dog’s jaws and it's the most sickening thing Lance has ever seen as he tries to break through the fighters encapsulating Keith.  
“Keith? Keith, come in!” Lance shouts, and his voice breaks.  
“I’m here, Lance.” His voice is so quiet, and not at all scared and Lance is so angry that he's not scared because that can only mean one thing.  
“Keith, no. Don’t you even dare, you’re not giving up right now, fight, goddamn you!”  
Keith chuckles a little. “It’s no use, there’s too many of them. Black’s taking a lot of damage and she’s...it’s too late, Lance.”  
Pidge and Hunk and Allura are shouting in the background but Lance can only hear Keith.  
“Lance?” his voice was so, so quiet and yet deafening. “Lance are you listening to me?”  
“Keith…” God his voice was breaking so much, and he could already feel tears in his eyes, even as he desperately tried to break through the galra fighters.  
“Lance, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do it like this. I wanted it to be, to be better than this.”  
A sob escaped through Lance’s clenched teeth, all he needed was one opening, just a tiny opening. “Then don’t do it like this, get out of there and do it better!”  
“I’m not gonna get another chance, Lance.”  
“Like hell you aren’t, samurai.”  
Keith laughed. “Just let me do this, okay? Be quiet just this once, Lance.”  
“If me talking will keep you from giving up, I’ll never stop.”  
The Black lion shuddered as a big beam rammed into her side, and Lance heard Keith grunt in pain.  
“Lance, c’mon. We don’t any time.”  
“But,” He could feel tears dripping into his mouth under his helmet. “I want more time.”  
“I know, baby. I want all the time with you.”  
Lance was sobbing now, and he could barely see through the tears but Red was helping scour the fighters for just a tiny, tiny opening.  
Keith’s warm voice crackled through the comms again. “I never,” was Keith crying too? “I never thought I was gonna get someone like you, Lance. I never thought I was gonna be able to feel for anyone, the way....”  
They both went silent as the heard the telltale zinging sound of a Galra cannon powering up. Lance could almost feel all of their eyes turn to the command ship and the beam pointed directly at Keith.  
Pidge, Hunk and Allura take off, racing toward the cannon but, they won't get there in time. Lance can feel it in his bones, this is it. But, there it is.  
“Lance, please.” Lance can’t see Keith’s eyes but he knows them and he knows how they must be burning right now, and he can hear that tears must be filling them. He pushes it from his mind and pushes through.  
“I am so happy that I got the time with you that I did. You changed me forever, I-”  
The cannon was almost as full strength and Lance couldn’t move fast enough but he was trying.  
“Lance, even if it all led to this, everytime, i would come back and do it all over again. Every goddamn time, Lance.  
The beam was full, it was firing it would hit at any moment and he couldn't move fast enough move faster move faster!  
“I love you--”  
And the beam collided with the Red lion as Lance shoved Keith out of the way.  
Keith had a Lance specific gravity, and Lance never could defy those physics.  
“I love you, Keith.”  
Lance thanked god for that tiny opening as he closed his eyes.

And opened them to a harsh white light shining into his eyes.  
Where was he? Was this heaven? Wow, genuinely he thought he would never get here, not after the summer of ‘03.  
Well, he might as well explore Heaven. As soon as he tried to move though, his body erupted with pain. Well that couldn’t be right, Heaven wasn’t supposed to feel like a kick in the ribs. Looks like the summer of ‘03 landed him in the other place afterall.  
He felt movement on his lap and looked down to see Keith’s head of dark hair splayed across his legs. Wait, why was Keith here?  
No, no, no, he SAVED Keith, that was literally the whole point of dying!  
As if sensing his distress, Keith sat up sleepily, only to freeze when he saw Lance was awake.  
“Lance?” His voice trembled. “Oh my god, Lance!” He threw himself at the injured boy and wrapped him in a hug. Well, maybe it was Heaven then.  
Lance pulled back, staring intensely at Keith’s face.  
Keith frowned. “What? What’s wrong?”  
“Nothing,” Lance murmured. “Just trying to see if Heaven got everything right.”  
“Lance, what are you talking about?”  
“Well, obviously this is my Heaven, but I saved you, so you cant be here, so I’m guessing you’re like an angel sent to be Keith for me. I’m just trying to make sure they got everything right.”  
Keith snorted. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not an angel. You're not dead.”  
Lance scowled. “Obviously I’m dead, I shoved Keith out of the way and took a full blast.”  
Keith frowned and then ducked down quickly and pressed his lips to Lance’s, moving their mouths together so gently that Lance thought that his heart might explode, as tingles ran down his arms. Keith pulled back, and smiled as he tucked a piece of hair behind his ear. “There, did that feel dead to you?”  
Lance stared slack jawed at him. “Um, sorry, but I’m actually just more convinced that this is my Heaven.”  
Keith chuckled. “You’re not dead. I dragged you out, the Atlas showed up and saved everyone, Allura did some wacky healing and then we got you in a pod.”  
Lance flinched as a twinge shot through his body.  
Keith frowned. “Yeah, they didn’t wanna keep you in there too long, so a couple of your ribs are still broken.”  
“Oh.” Lance said dumbly.  
“Lance?” Keith said, and his eyes were burning again.  
“Yeah?”  
Keith kissed him again, hard and fast, devastating. “Don’t ever do that again.”  
Lance smiled innocently. “It got you to kiss me, didn’t it?”  
Keith huffed a laugh and sat down on the side of the bed, laughing again when Lance pulled him down to lay next to him, both of them just looking at each other.  
“You stole my line, by the way.” Keith murmured softly, eyes boring into Lance.  
“What line is that?” Hushed whispers.  
“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Woof. That battle scene really took it out of me. I don’t like making Lance cry  
> Thanks for reading and leave a Kudo or a comment if you liked it! 💕


End file.
